"One of the most singular bank buildings is undoubtedly the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong, the first building outside the United States to break the 1,000-foot mark and, even today, one of the world's tallest corporate headquarters," said an Emporis spokesperson.

Others in its list include the Macquarie Bank Centre in Sydney with a "sophisticated interior design ... [that] does entirely without loadbearing columns and provides light-flooded, colorful workspaces" and the Bank of America Tower in New York, which cost a billion dollars and is "one of the most eye-catching in this city."

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emporis.com

The report notes that even the recent financial crisis did not entirely kill banks' desires to build extravagantly.

"As recently as 2009, the Co-Op Bank, Cyprus, moved into an exclusive new designer building," the report says, also citing BBVA, Spain's second-largest bank, which is building a new headquarters with an immodest circular design by architects Herzog & de Meuron.